Saturday, January 13, 2007

Sea waters 'heavily polluted'

Marine pollution has worsened in the past year, especially in the shallow
waters off the coast, said the Beijing oceanic authority on Friday.

"The coastal marine ecosystem is getting worse, the quality of off-shore
ocean water has not improved. Large amounts of pollutants are filtering from the
land into the sea," said Li Chunxian, spokesman for the State Oceanic
Administration (SOA) at a news conference.

A report was also released on the condition of China's seas, marine accidents
and the rise of the sea level last year.

A total of 149,000 square kilometers of sea failed to meet acceptable
standards, 10,000 square kilometers more than in 2005.

The most heavily polluted areas were concentrated along the Bohai Sea and the
estuary of the Yangtze.

Lying off the coast of North China, one of the country's most populous and
developed areas, the Bohai Sea continues to be the most polluted of four problem
areas.

An area of 20,000 square kilometers, accounting for 26 percent of its waters,
failed to meet acceptable standards.

Land waste was the major cause of the pollution, Li said. About 81 percent of
the 609 waste discharge stations, supervised by the SOA, dumped more waste than
the permitted amount last year.

A total of 12.9 million tons of waste was discharged into the sea.

Li called for more efforts to repair the damage and strengthen control of
discharge containing harmful elements.

Jiang Zhenghua, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National
People's Congress, warned on Thursday that the reclamation of land had also
harmed aquatic resources and intensified sea disasters.

The rapid economic development of the coastal areas resulted in the
reclamation of 300 square kilometers of land every year from 2001 to 2005,
Xinhua reported.

According to SOA, a national plan will be drawn up for land reclamation this
year to better the oceanic environment.

Marine disasters

The report also said that last year recorded serious marine disasters in
China.